Lakers are enjoying the journey toward a title

LOS ANGELES Kobe Bryant spent the weekend wearing a smile - but a forced smile of playing along.

Bryant returned to his real job Tuesday night - and real smiles of playing together.

Bryant did what he needed to do in Phoenix, making nice with former Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal to great effect and co-MVP reward Sunday at the All-Star Game. But Bryant was never really in the mood for wistful languor over past glories that didn’t always make him that happy anyway.

Now that he has this adventure of racing toward a new championship goal - and it’s very much within sight - Bryant is eager to get on with it. But what Tuesday night offered by way of reminder is that many great teams - including some of those Kobe-Shaq Lakers squads - failed to enjoy the journey to the top. These Lakers are very different.

They’re having a ball. It’s not even a question about having to share it.

The custom for Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar is attempting halfcourt shots to conclude their halftime warmup routines. And on this night, Ariza swished his. Farmar watched that happen and proceeded to nail his, too.

And because he’s young and having fun and a little bit devious, Ariza smilingly slipped back out to halfcourt to take one more shot in hopes of hitting again to upstage Farmar. And because he’s young and having fun and just as devious, Farmar sneaked down to the baseline to appear suddenly and goal-tend Ariza’s extra shot, which was just off line anyway, and then laughed all about that.

This was the fun feeling at halftime - after Farmar’s first-quarter performance in relief of Derek Fisher is what Atlanta coach Mike Woodson noticed as game-changer. Farmar rallied the Lakers from behind, and then the Lakers’ entire second unit poured it on in the second quarter, with most of the energy emanating from Ariza.

You could watch other NBA teams for weeks and never see a glimpse of the kind of stuff the Lakers did Tuesday night. There was Pau Gasol laughing at himself early in the third quarter for having grabbed his 11th rebound when Lamar Odom was swooping in and hoping to make it his 16th rebound - both Gasol and Odom well aware that Odom was trying to win a bet from Bryant by reaching 20 rebounds.

Odom got 17 rebounds in Cleveland and then 18 rebounds at home against Oklahoma City, prompting Bryant to challenge Odom to get 20 … only for Odom to finish with 19 rebounds at Utah in the final game before the All-Star break.

Odom had 17 after three quarters, and Phil Jackson left him in to play the fourth just to win the bet with Bryant and get to 20. Gasol had already gotten his statistical treat with a triple-double achieved with 4:21 still to play in the third quarter.

And it was Bryant who was hooting at Gasol to give him the ball so Bryant could make a 3-pointer and make sure Gasol got his 10th assist - and then kidded Gasol afterward about failing to understand how he was just trying to help.

Before the fourth quarter came more smiles when Mission Viejo’s Robert Ward won $165,000 by hitting a halfcourt shot on the same basket that Ariza and Farmar had used at halftime. It was just that kind of night, with all the Lakers celebrating Ward’s shot that came with the Lakers ahead, 85-60.

All that was left was garbage time - and the Lakers debuts of Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown, acquired in a money-saving but chemistry-risking trade for Vladimir Radmanovic.

Here’s what Bryant had said the day of the trade: “We’ll always be there for him (Radmanovic), and we wish him the best of luck. The new guys we have coming in to the group, we’ll embrace ‘em and welcome ‘em in.”

Although Morrison is the bigger name, Brown actually might wind up with more opportunities this season because of defensive skills. And he showed his elevation with a block where he jumped up and caught Mario West’s layup from behind - although referee Dick Bavetta ruled body contact on the play and called a foul.

Bryant later said of Brown’s block: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before,” and all the higher-end Lakers - Bryant, Gasol, Fisher, Odom, Ariza, Luke Walton and even injured Andrew Bynum - stood a long time in loud protest of Bavetta’s call.

They were long and loud enough that Brown noticed his brand-new teammates standing up for him. And he said later: “Made me feel real good.”

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